YouSaid · the spoken record

Orzala Nemat

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16
first
2021-05-25
most recent
2021-05-25
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “These are examples and proof that Afghans are awakening and risking their lives to preserve key humanistic and democratic values. They also demonstrate the country’s determination not to surrender to the forces of darkness and ignorance. It is now time for our international allies to support us in achieving a lasting peace. Since the war has been sponsored and supported internationally, the peace definitely requires strong and practical steps, through joint and collaborative efforts, if it is to be achievable.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  2. “The Afghanistan Mechanism for Inclusive Peace is a platform for bringing the different segments of civil society organizations together for consultation on different issues related to peace building. Women’s advocacy groups are focusing on local grass-roots activism through initiatives that unite their voices as well as international advocacy to mobilize support for an immediate ceasefire. All have one message — end the bloodshed and stop this vicious cycle of violence and targeted killings by declaring a comprehensive ceasefire. Local organizations are trying their best to negotiate with parties to ensure that the delivery of basic services is reaching people in rural and urban areas. Volunteers are active in promoting girls’ education in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where most access has been limited.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  3. “We are pleased that the Secretary-General has appointed a veteran diplomat, Jean Arnault, as his Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues. I am sure that his long-standing work in support of the peace process and regional cooperation and his deep understanding of political and security developments in Afghanistan will help him play a key role in the peace process in Afghanistan. A mediator’s role is key to moving forward and ensuring that the voices and concerns of all Afghans, in particular the different segments of civil society, are part of this process. Civil society organizations, and women leaders in particular, are highly organized in articulating their messages for peace, prosperity and the inclusivity of the peace process at different levels.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  4. “This certainly indicates the urgency of maintaining and continuing humanitarian and development aid in the years to come, in spite of the military withdrawal of the international forces. Afghans across the country strongly believe that the only solution to ending current cycle of violence and armed conflict is through peace talks. However, no one is satisfied with the current peace process, which is in dire need of urgent boosting. Between now and the 11 September deadline for international military troop withdrawal, all major members of the Security Council, in particular the United States, have huge leverage to put stronger pressure on the Taliban and the rest of the political elites in Afghanistan to come to an agreement on a political settlement, with an immediate ceasefire as a first step.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  5. “International support for the national security forces needs to include key war- related conventions and humanitarian principles in order to maximize the protection of civilians during the military operations and to set up a mechanism that can hold violators accountable. Poverty levels are also increasing due to ongoing violence and the spread of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the country. Nearly 11 million people in Afghanistan are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity due to conflict, according to Relief Web International. COVID-19, high food prices, rampant unemployment between March and May 2021 — the lean season in most parts of the country — and the displacement of people due to natural disasters and armed conflict are key drivers of food insecurity.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  6. “In southern Kandahar province, for instance, hundreds of mines were planted in the pomegranate orchards and people’s houses were even burnt down at the peak of the harvesting season last autumn, affecting not only people’s lives but also their livelihoods. As we speak now, in Helmand province and other parts of the southern region, local farmers’ wheat harvesting fields have been burnt and planted with mines. If the Taliban continues to follow these tactics of attacking civilians and their livelihoods and using suicide bombings, IEDs and landmines against ordinary and local civilian infrastructure, then are the Security Council and other United Nations State Members not giving them legitimacy by meeting with them even though they keep using such approaches?”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  7. “I therefore call on the Security Council to support an internationally mandated independent investigation of atrocities against civilians in Afghanistan Mines and IEDs are another major issue that Afghans are facing as part of this armed conflict. The insurgent groups keep planting land mines in civilian areas, which take too many lives on a daily basis. According to the United Nations, there were 150 land-mine casualties every month in 2019 in Afghanistan. During the first two decades of war in Afghanistan, an estimated minimum of 10 million mines were planted; however, for the past two decades there have been no data on the number of IEDs or mines in the country.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  8. “Some of these attacks have been carried out and/or claimed by a group called Da’esh, whose members and tactics in using such a high level of carnage and violence can be traced back to the Taliban’s claimed attacks. The Taliban, however, sometimes denies playing a role in such incidents, which raises the question: On whose orders are our ordinary civilians being targeted? As the Taliban continues to deny responsibility for attacks and the Government’s capacity remains weak, and as the civilian losses are used as an element of psychological warfare by both sides, Afghan civilians need to know that there is international attention focused on the issue and an international push for accountability.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  9. “The car bomb killed over 30 people and injured dozens, mostly students and patients, in the nearby health centre, which was destroyed. This tragedy was followed just a few days later by a major pre-Eid strike on the Sayed Ul-Shuhada High School for girls, in the west of Kabul, that killed over 85 girl students and injured hundreds. Attacks on religious and ethnic minorities are among the most ruthless tactics and approaches used by insurgent groups to attract certain attention. Unfortunately, the common reaction to all these incidents is limited to messages of condemnation, nationally as well as globally. No systematic and independent investigation is undertaken to identify the masterminds and planners of such ruthless attacks.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  10. “Yama Siawash, Nemat Rawan, Ilyas Dayee and many other male journalists have been targeted in different parts of the country. Freshta Kohistani, a 29-year-old women’s rights and democracy activist; Zakia Herawi and Qadria Yasini, judges in the Afghan Supreme Court; Basira, age 20, Semin, age 24, and Negina, age 24, were killed while administering polio vaccines to children. Yousuf Rasheed, a civil society leader, was killed while heading to his office. These are only some of the names among many other women and men who worked and lived as civilians and were targeted by these assassinations. In the most recent wave of attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, a guesthouse that hosted university students and was close to a health clinic was targeted in Pul-e-Alam, in Logar province.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  11. “An intense wave of targeted killings of civil society members— such as women leaders, journalists, religious scholars and even female vaccinators — has caused serious threats and created an atmosphere of terror in our cities and districts. Within the past two weeks alone, at the end of February and the beginning of March, seven women were targeted in eastern Nangarhar province. First, three female journalists were shot dead, then a female doctor’s rickshaw was blown up, and that was followed by the assassination of three young female vaccinators in Jalalabad city, in eastern Afghanistan. Fatima Khalil, a human rights activist, was assassinated in a magnetic improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Kabul. Malalai Maiwand, a television reporter, was murdered in December, five years after her mother, an activist, was killed.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  12. “In comparison to last year, this year’s increase shows that the Taliban is responsible for 43.5 per cent of all civilian casualties and the Afghan National Army responsible for 17 per cent. Last year, UNAMA registered 12 acts of violence targeting health-care workers between 11 March and 23 May. Eight of them were attributed to the Taliban, while Afghan forces were responsible for three. But the most horrific attack on a maternity hospital, which left 24 dead, is still unresolved, with no group claiming responsibility for it. We therefore call on the Security Council to bring these numbers to the direct attention of all parties to the conflict and ask for practical mechanisms to be put in place to stop the targeting of civilians during fighting.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  13. “The bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in 2015 is just one example. The first quarterly report of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for 2021 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict documents 1,783 civilian casualties, with 573 killed and 1,210 injured — a 29 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020. Of particular concern is the 37 per cent increase in the number of women killed and injured and the 23 per cent increase in child casualties compared with the first quarter of2020. Anti-Government elements continued to be responsible for the majority — 61 per cent — of all civilian casualties in the first three months of 2021, while pro- Government forces continued to cause approximately one-quarter — 27 per cent — of total civilian casualties.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  14. “My remarks today focus on the protection of civilians in Afghanistan. There is enough evidence to say, with confidence, that protracted years of conflict and violence have turned Afghanistan into one of the worst countries for its ordinary civilians and health workers. That is because nearly all parties to the conflict often do not follow the Geneva Convention or any other universal conventions or declarations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to ensure and prioritize the protection of civilians. On the contrary, civilians are the prime target of Taliban attacks and are used as protection shields by insurgent groups. Sadly, there have been some incidences of Government forces bombing civilian targets. Not even the international military are exempted from such acts.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  15. “Afghan civil society is working on promoting civic education, community development and peacebuilding, women’s rights and the protection of victims of war and violence, agriculture and farming and environmental issues, as well as advocating for legal reforms and many other policy matters. The role of the media and women-led organizations, among other segments of civil society, have become more salient over the past two decades. Civil society therefore consists of community organizations, non-governmental organizations, academia, voluntary groups and individuals, women’s organizations, unions, social organizations, cultural organizations and individuals who advocate for religious enlightenment, human rights, women’s rights, freedom of speech, accountability, peace, justice and so on.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source

  16. “It is my great pleasure to address the Council on behalf of Afghanistan from both an Afghan and a civil society perspective. Let me first briefly elaborate on what we mean by civil society in Afghanistan. In the post-2001 context, the Afghan civil society has emerged and evolved as result of different forms of aid and assistance and thanks to an opening environment for freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Afghan civil society, in today’s context, is therefore an amalgamated form of classic and modern civil society, where some with religious educations and knowledge and others with secular educations and knowledge have joined hands to help provide public services to their people.”

    2021-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/505 (2021) · source